The Battle of Nations

Many battles have been fought on the plain which has around the city of Leipsic, but none more important in the world's history than the "Battle of Nations," German Volkerschlacht, which took place Oct. 16, 1813, between Napoleon with his allied nations, and the allied powers of Russia, Prussia, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, and England.

When Alexander I. of Russia refused, in 1812, to concur in Napoleon's scheme of excluding British commerce from the whole European continent, it so offended the emperor, that he resolved to march against Russia with all the force of the territories under his dominion. "In that way," says Professor Heeren, "a storm of nations arose (about twenty were united under the standard of the conqueror) unparalleled in history since the expedition of Xerxes and Attila." Upon the invasion of his dominion, Alexander at once made allies of the Turks, and could have met his foe with an equal number of nations, if he had had time to summon them from the mountains and deserts of Asia.

All of his troops (divided into three armies) did not equal those of his enemy, which amounted to nearly half a million; but the whole Russian army manifested the most determined purpose to resist the hated invaders, and to engage God and religion on the side of Russia. They made an entire consecration of the empire and the church to the God of battles.

The Russians retreated before the French, until at last, on the 14th and 15th of September, 1812, Napoleon, with his victorious army, entered Moscow, and took possession of the Kremlin, the ancient residence of the czars.

Here Napoleon reached the limit of his expedition and the grave of his greatness.

Moscow, fired by its own citizens, fell a victim for the Emperor of Russia; but in its pillars of fire the first dawn of freedom shone over shackled Europe.

When three-fourths of Moscow was consumed, an unconquerable Russian army appeared before it. Never was a disappointment more sudden or more bitter. Napoleon gave the order for retreat, and a retreat more disastrous is nowhere recorded in history.

Alexander pursued the enemy beyond the borders of his empire, and there gave the signal for that union of European powers which ended the campaign with the battle of Leipsic, the greatest battle of modern history.

The signal defeat of the French emperor left the way open to Paris, which in 1814 was entered by the respective sovereigns, who compelled Napoleon to abdicate, and restored the House of Bourbon to the throne. The renown of Alexander was now complete, as the providential deliverer of Europe.